letters to my class

Dear Humans,

We all come from families that came from somewhere and got here somehow. And they might have come as part of a wave, which means there are a lot of people who are a lot like us. 

And that is part of our story. But it’s not our whole story. Because the best parts of our stories are the parts that make us different, not the same. And those parts of the story are largely up to us. We get to decide.

Just as our ancestors responded to the pressures of their time and place, we’ll respond to them as well. But we’ll do it in our own way, informed by what came before, but also knowing that our future is mostly in our hands.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Answerers,

Yesterday we were making nouns plural and came across “circus.” We were reviewing the add -es rules, and that works fine for “circuses.” But there’s also a rule that nouns ending in -us get changed into an -i, like cacti. And “circi” also works. And some people even love to add an extra -s before the -es and make it “circusses.” 

It just goes to show you: the word that we should always make sure we’re writing in plural form is “answers.” Because there is always more than one.

And though you’ll probably never have to pluralize circus again in your lives (who goes to more than one circus in a day?) you will find questions with more than one answer every single day.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Time Travelers,

When I walk into the classroom in the morning and the day’s date is already written on the board and the pencils are all sharpened and the room is prepared for the day, I give a little shoutout. “Thank you, Yesterday Me.”

But sometimes that guy is a real jerk. Leaving dirty dishes in the sink, ignoring the ungraded math assignments in the backpack, and you ought to see some of the stuff that guy puts in my stomach.

Everything we do is a pebble dropped in the water. We can’t ever know who the spreading ripples will touch. But we can know that we will get the largest ones. So be kind to Tomorrow You (and forgiving of Yesterday You).

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

When we’re born, we’re entirely dependent on our caretakers. To feed us, to protect us, and to keep our rear ends clean. And then we get pretty good at cleaning our own rear ends and think we’re independent. But then we find we still need people to give us advice, make us laugh, and make us feel like us.

And even when we’re able to take care of our own physical needs, we find ourselves called to the needs of others. Maybe our own children, our friends, strangers, or maybe even the people who used to take care of us. 

In this life, we’re never independent. We’re always connected to others. No matter how clean we keep our rear ends.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Sometimes when I’m driving home and the song I’m listening to isn’t quite over, I drive around the block real slow so I can catch that final verse and chorus.

It’s never with a new or unfamiliar song. It’s usually an old John Prine song that I’ve heard a million times and could recite from memory backwards.

Because there’s something about the known. And though the recording doesn’t change, our ears do. And the cars we drive do. And the homes we park them at do. And the people riding in the car with us (or no longer riding with us) most definitely do. 

And with all that change surrounding us, it’s good to hear that same old chorus one more time.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Learners,

Learning is about creating mental buckets to store information. When we learn about nouns, we create a noun bucket in our head. Then, when we need a noun, we quickly retrieve it from the bucket.

It’s a pretty good system! But it’s important to remember that it’s not really about the buckets. It’s about what we store in the buckets. And that stuff moves from bucket to bucket depending on our situation. Because a word that’s sometimes a noun isn’t always a noun.

Some people really love their buckets and think things must always belong in the same bucket all the time. But that’s not how this crazy world works. So get yourself some buckets, but get really good at swapping stuff out of them.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Grandchildren,

The best part of being a teacher is getting to know your students. So yesterday while you were working on a project, I walked around and asked you what you call your grandmas. 

At first some of you just said “grandma” but then I could see you thinking and you told me Nonna or Abeula or Lita or Gran. We all think what we call our grandmas is normal, but we quickly find that while there are many commonalities in this world, there is no normal. 

So for those of us lucky enough to still have grandmas, the names we call them is one of the most important things about us. Because it shows us who we belong to. And that’s comforting in this not-so-normal world.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

Some people question whether kids should learn how to read an analog clock because you always have a digital clock in your pocket. And I guess that’s true.

But I love analog clocks. Because, like time itself, an analog clock is a circle. It just keeps coming back around itself, in a cycle, just like nature. That tree with green leaves will soon be bare and a few months later will be white with blooms. Time after time after time.

So even though it might not be a “21st century skill” we’re going to be reading clocks today. Just like humans have done for hundreds of years. And I bet you’ll feel a little closer to the rhythms of nature while you do it.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Learners,

It’s your first day of 5th grade. And you share it with about 30 other kids. You might think we cram a bunch of the same-aged kids in a classroom together because it’s more efficient. But really it’s because learning happens in a community.

I’ll try to do most of the teaching, but every person in here has something to teach you. And you have something to teach every person (especially me). And the only way we can do it is if we’re a community.

Some people are hopeful that technology will completely change how we learn. I’m a bit more skeptical. I’ve spent my entire life in schools, and I’ve seen that learning is a very complex process. And a thoroughly human one.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt

Dear Humans,

There are nearly 8 billion people in the world. And a lot of them are a lot like you or me. Just down the block there are similar schools with similar kids learning similar curriculum from similar teachers.

Which is all to say that none of us are all that special. 

But we might be the only son to someone. Or the only father. Or the only brother. Or someone’s only best friend. And that makes us very special indeed.

So rather than spending our energy trying to be special to the big world of 8 billion that has never heard of us, we should try to be extra special to the people who already know we are.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt